


Keeping Secrets

by china_shop



Category: White Collar
Genre: Age Difference, F/F, Femslash, Fic, Missing Scene, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-04
Updated: 2010-08-04
Packaged: 2017-10-10 22:40:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/105179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/china_shop/pseuds/china_shop
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>June and Alex examine the music box.</p><p>Missing scene from 1.14.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Keeping Secrets

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to Dragonfly for beta.

June was waiting when the doorbell rang. She'd been waiting all morning. She waved Alex inside. "Come in, child. Based on all the pacing going on upstairs, I take it you were successful."

Alex looked triumphant and not at all tired, despite having presumably been up most of the night. The young were so resilient. She held up a black bag with both hands. "Right here."

"Well, then. Shall we take a look and see what all the fuss is about?" June led the way into the parlor and quietly shut the door behind them.

Alex set the bag on the table, then slipped off her thick winter coat, dropped it carelessly onto the couch and extracted the music box from the bag. It was an ugly thing really, but surrounded by so much history and so many machinations that it didn't matter: it glowed with significance.

Alex was already checking its front, sides and back. She opened the lid, pulled a face when it began to play a tinkly little tune and closed it again quickly. "Where's Neal?"

"In his room—he can't possibly overhear us," said June. "You haven't looked at it yet?"

Alex threw a sly smile her way. "I was waiting for you. It's more fun with two."

Her eyes sparkled with excitement, and June curbed her inappropriate response: the girl really was too young for her, and not at all her usual type, with her bra showing at the neckline of her little strappy top. June allowed herself a dignified smile in reply and metaphorically pushed her sleeves up. And, well, perhaps allowed herself to move in a fraction too close. There was no need to be stand-offish when Alex had been good enough to make June her co-conspirator. "Let's see what's what."

Between them, they went over every inch of the box. June quickly worked out how to stop the thing playing its tune, and they removed every part they could, looking for the clue, the key, the hidden aspect that made it so important.

June tried to hurry, aware that they were prolonging Neal's ordeal, but it was fiddly work, and after a while, she had to sit down. She watched Alex use a nail file to pry the covering off the box's musical mechanisms, revealing the antique spring, cylinder and comb.

"It's just a music box," said Alex finally, in disgust. "All that trouble for nothing."

"Not for nothing," said June. "Sometimes it's as valuable to know what isn't there as what is." She shuffled her chair forward and angled the heavy amber box to the light so she could better see into its inner workings. "What's that?"

Alex brushed against her, her perfume subtle and appealing, as she peered closer, trying to see. "What—oh!"

June could identify it now: the tiniest edge of paper peeking from inside the rim of the hollow cylinder. The box did hold a secret after all.

Alex laughed under her breath and took over, insinuating her slim hand into the small space and managing to catch the edge between the tips of her second and third fingers. It took a few tries, and the paper snagged on one of the cylinder's pins and tore slightly, but she managed to drag it free. June shared her moment of quiet exaltation: they'd cracked it.

The paper was folded tightly, several times over. Alex opened it out, smoothed it on the corner of the table and studied it, a frown creasing her brow. "It's in Cyrillic, but I can't read it."

"You read Russian?" June raised her eyebrows, impressed and not bothering to hide the fact. When she'd planned this with Alex, she'd been aware the girl was quick and smart, but she'd had no way to know of her talents—just that Neal respected her and had been prepared to put his future into her not-so-trustworthy hands.

Alex shrugged. "I spent some time in Europe with Neal and Kate a few years back. I picked up some things."

June took the thin sheet of paper from her, handling it carefully. "It could be a code, of course. I have some experience with codes."

Alex's smile widened. "So we can pool our resources. Between us—"

"I have every confidence we can figure it out," said June. Despite herself, she reached up and smoothed Alex's hair, letting one of the long tresses half-twine about her wrist.

"Could be fun," said Alex softly.

"Go on with you." June met her gaze, almost laughing. "I know you're only after me for my money."

Alex didn't back down though, or deny it. "There are worse reasons, aren't there?" Without waiting for an answer, she leaned in and murmured in June's ear, "Anyway, that's not true. It's not just money. I think we could—learn a lot from each other, don't you? And enjoy ourselves in the process."

June stepped back, her head swimming slightly, and did her best to seem unflappable. "It's possible," she said, drily. "But for now, I think we should put that young man upstairs out of his misery."

"Maybe later then," said Alex, undeterred.

The thought of spending intimate time with her was both attractive and unnerving. June's body often let her know—through aches and vague longings—that it didn't get enough sexual attention, but Alex was firm and fit and apparently fearless, and although June wasn't ashamed of her body, far from it, she also had no desire to spend a liaison feeling self-conscious and being compared to a woman less than half her age. Still, she liked Alex, found her intriguing, and that was rare enough—that the girl treated her respectfully was doubly special. June straightened her shoulders. The opportunity was not to be sneezed at. Alex—who was undeniably an adult and self-possessed—showed no sign that she considered her too old. Perhaps it would be worth exploring the possibilities. Later.

Alex held out her hand for the paper, and June returned it, feigning reluctance although she'd already memorized the characters on it and had every intention of working on it that evening, with or without her accomplice. They hadn't discussed what they'd do with the information, if and when they uncovered its message. For Alex, this whole affair was no doubt a diversion, and June was sure she'd want to sell the knowledge, if she could. June, on the other hand, was driven by concern for Neal: he had no sense of perspective when it came to Kate or the music box, and he certainly wouldn't listen to her, so she had to think for him. Removing the box's secrets was really just a necessary precaution.

Alex folded the paper back down to its original size and slipped it into her back pocket. She meticulously replaced all the other pieces they'd prized from the box and was about to return the thing to its bag, when June intervened.

"It deserves better than that, I think, given it shared its secrets with us." She took a slim black velvet cushion from the couch and put it on the table, and Alex arranged the music box on it.

"Showmanship," she said. "You're good."

"I still have a few tricks up my sleeve," said June, smiling. "Now, let's put this piece of the puzzle back into play." She opened the parlor door and they walked upstairs, keeping a discreet distance from each other, ready once again to play their parts in young Neal Caffrey's unfolding drama.

 

END


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